Pivot Only With Clean Breaks

“What in fact happened was a typical macroeconomic event in the form of Covid-19. The financial and economic effects for business were artificially prolonged by the zero per cent interest ‘rescue policies’ of the US and European central banks. I learned from my experience in Iceland, when I had waited too long for the tide to turn, to cut my losses and not leave any loose ends. So in Latin America I decided to make a clean break to fully focus on new markets and opportunities without any distractions from previous operations.”

“A few years later, the Covid-19 pandemic affected our business much worse than we realised at the time, with the effects taking years to trickle down into the business performance and total investment costs. It was basically a knock-out blow, and both businesses required a total financial reboot to get back on their feet again. At the beginning of 2024, I exited both of my Latin American telecoms investments after being impacted by enormous headwinds. In Chile I secured a full exit at a substantial profit by not taking part in new equity injection by bondholders there. In Colombia I sold my majority holding for a large loss as part of a [Chapter 11](private://read/01kdksn7jhqrm0f2m3d6xxdngv/ch11.xhtml#ch11) capital restructuring. Nevertheless I regard both as successful examples of adventure capitalism in a continent that was entirely new to me. The investments did not end how I had planned, but I learned from the Icelandic crisis and this time decided to draw a line under them rather than wait for the situation to improve as I had done in Iceland. I had learned to recognise a crisis, and ending my involvement was the right thing to do.”